Wednesday, April 30, 2014

One Atari Jaguar (NTSC) console, one RF switch box, one AC adapter and 7 of the very best Jaguar games ever produced can be grabbed via this Atari Jaguar auction. Pack-in game Cybermorph aside, the buyer will be grabbing 6 boxed cartridges including the excellent Tempest 2000, Raiden, Alien vs Predator and NBA Jam TE. Seller ships only within the US.

Both adventure gamers and collectors should hurry over to this Lucasarts Classic Adventures auction for MS-DOS computers, for it is a beautifully boxed, highly sought-after and actually brilliant collection. It contains the original Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion,Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, Loom and Zak McKracken, all the disks of the games, a glorious manual and issue 4 of the Adventurer magazine.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Sporting the brilliant art of Roger Dean on its cover and a stunning introduction, Barbarian by Psygnosis remains one of the most playable action games for the Atari ST and you can, cunningly, grab it via this Barbarian (ST) auction; for cheap. The game comes complete in its box and the seller is shipping worldwide.

Now, here's something I didn't even know existed and sounds simply brilliant: a SuperSketch graphics tablet (the G2100 model) for the Commodore 64 is being eBay-auctioned. It comes complete in its box with manual and everything, seems to be in great condition and is a must-have both for C64 collectors and people interested in creating art or graphics for the micro. Seller ships only within the US.

Monday, April 28, 2014

This shiny, early 16-bit Texas Instruments TI-99/4A may be being auctioned as untested (due to lack of the required cables), but a) it does come with an abundance of goodies, b) looks perfectly fine, and c) this particular micro has always been a sturdy machine. The buyer will be getting the computer, 17 cartridges, some cassettes, a programming dossier/manual and the TI Speech Synthesizer. Seller ships worldwide.

Mickey Mouse no Tokyo Disneyland was exclusively released for the Super Famicom in Japan back in 1994. It's a great and relatively rare game that you can grab complete and in near mint condition in its box via this eBay auction. Seller ships to the Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia.

The Homebrew Computer Club was an early hobbyist newsletter that covered '70s computers such as the Altair and PDP. Historical minded readers will be interested to know they can buy 13 issues of the newsletter's second volume via this Homebrew Computer Club Newsletters auction, including vol.2 iss.1 sporting a letter from a young Bill Gates. Seller ships worldwide (but does exclude quite a few countries).

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Sierra's Sorcerian was a refreshingly different RPG, a translated Japanese action-RPG developed by Nihon Falcom, and a truly intriguing if not obscure MS-DOS game. You can happily grab it complete in its box via this Sorcerian (PC) auction, that comes with a ton of goodies including both 5.25" and 3.5" game disks. Seller ships worldwide.

The rare, PAL version of the Nintendo Entertainment System made an even rarer appearance on eBay and can joyfully be grabbed via this NES Deluxe Set auction. The Deluxe Set box itself comes complete with the console & all its leads, two controllers, the light-gun, R.O.B. & its accessories, Gyromite and Duck Hunt. As an extra, you'll be getting 6 more games including Super Mario Bros. 3 and R.C. Pro-Am.

Friday, April 25, 2014

In celebration of the discovery of Andy Warhol's lost work on a pre-release Amiga 1000, here's an excellent Amiga 1000 auction. The buyer shall enjoy a rare, boxed, fully working Amiga 1000 in near-perfect condition, complete with its mouse, manual, second (external) disk drive, Avatex modem, Okidata printer and a ton of software including boxed copies of SSI's Heroes of the Lance and Dragons of Flame. Seller ships only within the United States.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Captain Blood, the surreal and utterly brilliant French sci-fi epic, is a singularly unique game that couldn't have aged more gracefully. Happily, you can buy the complete, boxed, disk-based version of the game for your Commodore 64 via this Captain BloodeBay auction. Seller ships worldwide.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The ZX Spectrum, the micro that gave birth to the first indie development community in Europe and some of the most important classics, is a machine that simply cannot age. Over 10,000 games have been developed for it, dozens are being released each year and, well, here are 10 classic 8-bit games that really helped define it.

3D Deathchase

Requiring a measly 16k of RAM this is a game that has topped countless of best Spectrum games lists and is considered a true and undisputed classic. What's more, 3D Deathchase hasn't aged a day and remains an addictive and engrossing recreation of the speed-biking-on-Endor scenes from Star Wars, as well as an impressive 3D graphics showcase.

As far as arcade ports go, R-Type is the most accomplished one to ever appear on Sinclair's micro. It's fast, as faithful to the original as it gets and looks stunning, while remaining one of the best horizontally scrolling shoot-'em-ups ever created.

Before X-Com, Julian Gollop had designed a multitude of instant classics, though none came close to the uniqueness of Chaos; a highly tactical game that let you control a wizard and cast spells in an attempt to crush other wizards. Said spells could summon monsters, create illusions of monsters, dispel illusions, directly attack things and, above all, change the state of the battlefield itself.

The pinnacle of the isometric arcade adventure, Jon Ritman's Head Over Heeals, is a cartoon-esque brain teaser that lets you control two outrageously named characters (Head and Heels, obviously) who can combine into a single, ludicrous entity. Puzzle solving skills aside, this is a game that requires some dextrous maneuvering too.

Behold the best 2D platform game of all time (well, according to this humble blog)! The surreal, tough, pixel-perfect, at times hilarious and subtly puzzle-y Manic Miner. It really is a perfect game, you know, and one that should take you many hours and many deaths at the hands of gaming's most bizarre baddies to finally beat. It's Matthew Smith's magnum opus.

Ultimate Play The Game shocked everyone with the release of Knight Lore and single-handedly created a new hit genre with its smart, 3D-ish Filmation engine. The game may seem a tad simplistic (albeit charmingly so) today, but everything from Head Over Heels and Get Dexter to Gunfright and Abadia del Crimen owes a debt to Knight Lore. Oh, and Sabreman's transformation to a werewolf remains as cute as ever.

No other gaming platform had as many working class heroes as the ZX Spectrum and Trashman is a fine example of how brilliant a game about ordinary people can be. It's unique, lovely to look at, smart, hectic, addictive, demanding and far more interesting than any super-hero fantasy you'd care to mention.

Accompanied by audio tracks on tape, Deus Ex Machina was Automata's most ambitious and meaningful game. A wonderful assortment of mini games tied together with a strong, dystopian narrative, an amazing soundscape and unique aesthetics that failed to become a hit, but helped define a more artful approach to game design.

Text-adventures were big during the 8-bit era, but The Hobbit by Beam Software was simply huge. Based on Tolkien's classic, it sported numerous technological innovations (including a advanced parser and proto-AI driven characters), great writing, smart puzzles, evocative illustrations and a lot of singing about gold. Oh, and it did usually ship complete with a hefty manual and the original book.

Skool Daze: the ultimate fantasy of any '80s schoolkid simulated via the magic of computers! Seriously though, this open world simulator let you run amok in an excellently illustrated school building in order to eventually, uhm, liberate and "fix" your report card, while torturing teachers, attending classes, playing with that catapult of yours and avoiding getting lines. Getting to name the staff and write on blackboards were fantastic extras too.

Released exclusively in Japan in 1994, the Playdia by Bandai was a CD-ROM based console focused on younger audiences; hence its toy-like appearance and the (relative) abundance of kids-friendly software such as Dragon Ball Z and Hello Kitty. Then again, why not discover more about it by grabbing this lovely, boxed Playdia off of eBay. It comes complete with manual, controller, power unit and all the required cables and things to get it playing. Seller ships worldwide.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

The second installment of Sega's epic yet unfinished 128-bit trilogy, the revered Shenmue 2 for the Dreamcast, has once again appeared on eBay, though this time in top form and complete. Just click over to this Shenmue 2 auction for the complete boxed game with all four GD-ROMs, both booklets and the sleeve. Seller ships worldwide.

According to Old-Computers and Dusty Old Games the Rowtron Television Computer System is a VC 4000 clone and thus a truly obscure, really early and rather interesting European cartridge-based console. It is also a pretty bulky beast that was released back in 1979 and a rarity you can own via this Rowtron Television Computer System auction. Seller ships only within the United Kingdom.

The console is fully working and hookable to modern TVs and comes with its (not so well preserved) box and six cartridges.

Monday, April 21, 2014

With the CPC's proper keyboard and decent text display, it's obvious this was a micro built for text adventures. Also for the making of text adventures, which brings us to this tasty The Graphic Adventure CreatoreBay offer. It's a pretty powerful interactive fiction creation system by Incentive (that even allows for illustrations) and it comes complete in its box for the Amstrad CPC. Seller ships worldwide.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Infocom's 1988 interactive, digital comic book, the lovable Zork Quest 1: Assault on Egreth Castle, can happily be bought over at eBay. It's the boxed, sealed and thus complete version of the game on disk for the Commodore 64 and 128. Seller ships worldwide.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Back when Sonic and the games he starred in were actually considered cool, Sega provided us with some of the best and fastest 16-bit platformers of all time. Surprisingly, these were all released for its 16-bit Sega Genesis and you can grab all five classic Sonic games via this lovely Sonic CompleteeBay auction. You'll be getting apparently well-preserved boxed cartridges of Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic Spinball.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Sinclair's Quantum Leap 16-bit business micro can be yours if a) you live somewhere in the European Union and b) outbid everyone else for this Sinclair QL on eBay. The computer on offer is in full working order and comes in its box complete with 13 blank microdrives, software, the manual and all required bits to get it running.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

If you always wanted a fully working (NTSC) Nintendo 64 console with two controller, well, this N64 auction is definitely for you. You'll be bidding on a Nintendo 64 console with two controllers (!) and all the required bits and pieces to get it running. Seller ships worldwide.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

This 123 Speccy tapes auction, though exclusive to UK residents, is a fantastic opportunity to grab over 100 ZX Spectrum games (and Cassette 50 and more than a few collections too) in one cunning move. Among the dozens of offerings you'll find such classics as Tetris, R-Type, Football Manager, Skool Daze, The Trap Door, Star Wars, Cobra, Mindtrap, Ghostbusters, Match Day, Hunchback, Stonkers, Lode Runner and Feud.

Designed as an affordable business micro that simply wasn't powerful enough, Commodore's 8-bit Plus/4 was never a success, but remains an intriguing retro home computer, that's gotten its fair share of all kinds of software (including games). You can own one via this Commodore Plus/4 auction; the micro comes in its original box complete with Sound Synthesizer and of course its built-in applications.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Chances are Herzog Zwei is the true granddaddy of the modern RTS game and it remains a brilliant, hectic and still unique strategy game to this day; a game you can grab complete in its original box via this Herzog Zwei (MegaDrive) auction. It's the beautiful Japanese version of the game too and the seller is willing to ship worldwide.

A toy lightgun by Nintendo is always an interesting oddity; even more so when said lightgun was made available back in 1971 and is nowadays in its forties. You can find our more about the Nintendo Kousenjuu Custom Lever Action Rifle and even grab it in its original box via eBay. It is obviously very rare. Seller ships worldwide.